Can Someone Please Tell J.D. Vance What Stolen Valor Means?
If you think it would help, I mean
Ordinarily, given my long-ago Navy service as a Hospital Corpsman, I have a soft spot for U.S. Marines or former Marines — but former Marine J.D. Vance has really become an exception to the rule for me. In fact, he’s just pissing me off now.
Maybe Vance just likes the sound or cadence of the words “Stolen Valor,” or perhaps he just likes the fact that he’s sounding dog whistles every time he says the words, to an audience that pops up its collective ears for every dog whistle. Or maybe he’s just trying to be more Trumpy than Trump.
But his use of the phrase in the way he’s done shows that he doesn’t even know what it means.
Here’s the kind of thing I’m talking about — a quote from Vance that has shown up in multiple outlets. This particular screenshot is from a Times of India article:
What bothers Vance about Walz is the “stolen valor garbage.” What bothers me (at the moment … other moments, other bothers) about J.D. Vance is that he’s ignorant, pandering, and also has his facts wrong.
He clearly doesn’t even know what stolen valor is — but knows he can strike a chord by asserting it against Walz; and like his hero, Donald Trump, has only a passing…
